Tata Motors resumes operations at Marcopolo plant in Dharwad

​Late on Sunday evening, higher authorities of the company had sent an SMS to the workers and issued notices, stating that the company had decided to lift the lockout and that work would resume shortly.TNN | March 08, 2016, 04:38 IST

Late on Sunday evening, higher authorities of the company had sent an SMS to the workers and issued notices, stating that the company had decided to lift the lockout and that work would resume shortly.

However, the notice did not go down well with some sections of workers, who continued their agitation, stating that the company should mention the date of operation specifically.

The company sent another notice, asking the workers to join to duty on Monday and mentioning that the first shift would begin at 6am.

This ended the logjam created at the Tata Marcopolo plant and the workers who were staging an indefinite protest since March 1 near the deputy commissioner's office withdrew their agitation late on Sunday evening.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI) state president R Manasayya stated that the workers did not have any personal grudge against the company but were staging protest saying that the lockout was illegal.

Hence, there was no question of boycotting work as claimed by a few workers. The workers have already suffered as they were rendered jobless for over a month.

All the workers joined duty on Monday. A meeting of workers was held wherein it was decided to work sincerely for the progress of the company and maintain peace.

The struggle of the workers was not to disrupt production but to demand justice, Manasayya said, hoping that the demands of the workers would be met by the company.

He accused the labour department of being indifferent to the problems faced by workers and said that the department failed to solve the issue amicably.

He said deputy labour commissioner (DLC), Belagavi division, who was dealing with the issue should have issued notices to the company but did not do so.

Manasayya said Trade Union Centre of India and Krantikari Karmika Sanghata will file a complaint against the DLC with the labour commissioner.

In fact, segment leaders like Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp have reported de-growth of 34.3 per cent, 45 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively giving a clear indication of a prolonged slowdown in the sector.